Kathmandu, October 23:

The deadlock between two major political parties over the issue of total proportional representation in the constituent assembly elections is unlikely to be resolved any time soon as both leaders of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-Maoist today showed no sign of yielding any ground.

Addressing an interaction at Reporters’ Club, the CPN-M leader CP Gajurel said his party

would never let the election

take place until all parties agree on full PR while NC leader Arjun Narasingh KC said his party would never agree on it.

“There is no chance of compromising on full PR. There won’t be any election without it. A final decision on it should be taken before the House meets,” he said.

He added that the election without full PR would not be significant as it will in no way portray and represent the diversity of ethnic people, Madhesis, women and other minorities, adding that no election will bring permanent peace in the country unless all communities are represented in the constituent assembly.

He said the CPN-M had earlier put forth two demands - announcing republic from the parliament and full proportionate representation system in the election to constituent assembly but later it compromised on the first demand but “there is no chance of compromising on the second”.

Gajurel showed confidence that the proposal of full PR would be endorsed by the parliament.

Nepali Congress leader Arjun Narasingh KC, however, said NC would never surrender to Maoist demand of full PR because it is against the norms of democracy.

“It is 100 per cent certain that NC will not agree on all-out PR system for CA election,” he said.

He added that the provision of total PR would disassociate candidates from their constituencies and thus will be an attack on people’s individual freedom.

“The total PR is not going to bring the kind of democratic attitude we believe in,” he said.

Singh added that NC would not agree on declaring republic from the parliament.

He accused Maoists of coming up with new conditions just to avoid the elections, adding that they might even have more conditions to put forward, to delay the poll process.

On the other hand, UML leader Shankar Pokhrel said only an agreement between all political parties would take the peace process to a constructive conclusion. “Rather than highlighting differences, the major parties should concentrate on what they can agree on,” he said.